Monday, March 10, 2025
Column CM145
The UK Open 2025 – will a Luke be the winner?
The weather on the final day of the UK Open was as fine as on the days before. The wind was a little bit stronger and on the Bristol channel there was a lot of ship traffic. The visibility was good – you could clearly see the Welsh coast and a few mountains in the background.
Only eight players were still in the tournament – Luke Littler, Gian van Veen, Luke Humphries, James Wade, Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith. All matches were played on the Main Stage and there were only seven matches left before the tournament was over. I think many fans hoped for a Luke vs. Luke final but the day didn’t develop to plan…
In the afternoon-session, the quarterfinals were played, and the first quarterfinal was the one between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen. Both players had shown great perfomances so far and it could have been a thrilling match, maybe even a breakthrough match for the Dutch. But van Veen was not able to meet the high expectations which probably not only he had. It might be he wanted it too much and was too tense – he to be sure didn’t look relaxed. Littler was the stronger player and the match was rather one-sided and was won by Littler 10-4.
More hard fought was the second quarterfinal between Josh Rock and Nathan Aspinall. Both players played at a high level with averages near to 100. Rock stormed into a lead but Aspinall didn’t give in and twice came quite close – but probably it was already too late and as well Aspinall missed a few key doubles. Rock won 10-7 and for the first time stood in a TV ranking semi-final.
The third quarterfinal between Jonny Clayton and Michael Smith was all in all the weakest of the quarterfinals with both players averaging around 93. It was a close match in which Michael Smith had the advantage early on and was 5-2 in the lead. But Clayton started to get better into the match, drew even, then took the lead and though Smith managed to stay close he couldn’t keep up completely and lost in the end 8-10.
The last of the quarterfinals was the closest and it was peculiar as well…
During the match the atmosphere between the players changed a lot. At the start of the match Luke Humphries and James Wade looked to be on friendly terms. But then something occurred between them – Wade suddenly became aggressive and pinched while Humphries was unsettled and at a loss. Both did show up in the match which was good for Wade’s and bad for Humphries’s performance. Wade won 10-9 and it looked as if Humphries was just glad to be able to leave the stage.
After the quarterfinals came the last draw of the tournament – the semi-finals draw. Luke Littler was drawn against Jonny Clayton and Josh Rock against James Wade…
In the evening session, Luke Littler and Jonny Clayton played their semi-final first. After his performances so far in the tournament Littler was the favorite though Clayton managed to keep up until the break when it was 5-5. But after the break Littler got stronger and Clayton only won one more leg. So, Littler was through to the final and it didn’t look at all as though anybody would be able to stop him.
The second semi-final was one-sided from the start – Wade still was on fire and very determined and Josh Rock couldn’t find a way to handle what had descended on him. He only managed to win two legs against a merciless opponent.
And so in the final of this year’s UK Open Luke Littler and James Wade met. Littler was no surprise but who had banked on Wade?
Wade had no chance at all in the final against Littler, who was on a mission. Wade’s average was under 90 in the match. It looked like he had problems with his knee, and he injured himself with a dart – in the end, he lost 2-11 to a completely unimpressed Luke Littler. 
While Littler gave the last of the interview the PDC had already started to dismantle the stage and everything else in the Sky Pavillon. It really is impressive how fast this happens.
All in all, it was a good tournament. The German players were not really good this year but many of them were new Tour Card holders and still have to get used to the Pro Tour and the tournaments. We saw a great Beau Greaves.
On the last day of the tournament only players from the Top 32 of the Order of Merit remained. Although I liked seeing James Wade getting back to form, I felt sorry it was, of all things, at the expense of Luke Humphries – a Luke vs. Luke final probably would have been better matched and more thrilling then the slightly unsatisfying one we had at this year’s UK Open.
Only the sound of the sea accompanied me on my last walk back along the promenade. Clearly the celebrations of Littler’s win didn’t go beyond Butlin’s…
